Method and system to facilitate transactions

ABSTRACT

Method and system are provided to facilitate transactions in a particular on-line trading platform from a third party web site. The system may be configured to associate identification information, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), with a reference to an item of merchandise on a web page provided by a third party entity. In response to a request originated from a client device of a user, the method may cause presentation of a listing of the item of merchandise maintained in the particular on-line trading platform and a visual control to facilitate commencing of a transaction process with respect to the item of merchandise in the on-line trading platform.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/972,682, filed on Mar. 31, 2014, which isincorporated herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the technical fields of software and/orhardware technology and, in one example embodiment, to system and methodto facilitate transactions in a particular on-line trading platform froma third party web site.

BACKGROUND

An on-line trading platform allows users to shop for almost anythingusing, e.g., a web browser application or an application native to amobile device. A user may find an item listed by an on-line tradingapplication by entering keywords into the search box provided on anassociated web page or by browsing through the list of categories on thehome page. After reading the item description and viewing the seller'sreputation, the user may be able to either place a bid on the item orpurchase it instantly. There are many features provided by an on-linetrading application that may be utilized by users in unique ways thatmay result in a successful shopping experience. A user may encounter anitem of interest on a web site other than a web site associated with theon-line trading platform. The user may be able to determine keywordsthat describe that item of interest, access the web site associated withthe on-line trading platform and attempt to locate that item in theon-line trading platform.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of exampleand not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in whichlike reference numbers indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a network environment withinwhich an example method and system to facilitate transactions in aparticular on-line trading platform from a third party web site may beimplemented;

FIG. 2 is an example User Interface screen illustrating a web page froma context setter web site that includes a presentation of an item thatis linked to a listing in an on-line trading platform, in accordancewith an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an example User Interface screen illustrating a web page froma context setter web site presenting a contextual commerce visualcontrol selectable to cause a transaction processing flow to becommenced in an on-line trading platform with respect to an itempresented on the context setter web site, in accordance with an exampleembodiment;

FIG. 4 is an example User Interface screen illustrating a web page froma context setter web site including a transaction flow user interfacereceived from an on-line trading platform, in accordance with an exampleembodiment;

FIG. 5 is block diagram of a contextual transaction facilitator providedat an on-line trading platform, in accordance with one exampleembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method performed at an on-line tradingplatform to facilitate transactions in the on-line trading platform froma context setter web site, in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 7 is block diagram of a contextual transaction module provided at acontext setter web site, in accordance with one example embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method performed at a context setter website to facilitate transactions in the on-line trading platform, inaccordance with an example embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Method and system to facilitate transactions in a particular on-linetrading platform from a third party web site is described. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of anembodiment of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to oneskilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced withoutthese specific details.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Similarly, the term “exemplary” is merely to mean anexample of something or an exemplar and not necessarily a preferred orideal means of accomplishing a goal. Additionally, although variousexemplary embodiments discussed below may utilize Java-based servers andrelated environments, the embodiments are given merely for clarity indisclosure. Thus, any type of server environment, including varioussystem architectures, may employ various embodiments of theapplication-centric resources system and method described herein and isconsidered as being within a scope of the present invention.

A computer user may visit various web sites (referred to as third partyweb sites) that are distinct from a web site of the on-line tradingplatform. While visiting such third party web sites, the user may noticean item that they may be interested in purchasing. The user may thenleave the third party web site, access the trading web site, attempt tolocate a listing that represents the item of interest and, if suchlisting exists in a database maintained by the on-line trading platform,purchase the item using the transaction functionality of the on-linetrading platform. Method and system to facilitate transactions in aparticular on-line trading platform from a third party web site may beutilized beneficially to enhance a user's experience in purchasing itemsreferenced on third party web pages.

In one example embodiment, an on-line trading platform may be configuredto cooperate with a web site controlled by a third party provider suchthat the presentation of an item on the third party web site isassociated with information linking the presentation of the item to alisting that is maintained by the on-line trading platform. Theinformation linking the presentation of the item to a listing that ismaintained by the on-line trading platform may be referred to as itemidentification information or merely an item identification. The itemidentification information may be, e.g., in the form of a UniformResource Locator (URL) or some other form. When a user encounters, on athird party web site, a presentation of an item that is linked to alisting maintained by the on-line trading platform, the user may simplyclick on the presentation of the item, which may cause presentation of avisual control selectable to launch a transaction processing flowfacilitated by the on-line trading platform, without requiring the userto leave the third party web site. When a transaction is facilitated andprocessed by the on-line trading platform with respect to an itemrepresented on a third party web site and without requiring the user toleave the third party web site, such third party web site may bereferred to as a context setter web site.

In one embodiment, a third party web site may communicate with theon-line trading platform via an Application Programming Interface (API)provided to the third party web site by the on-line trading platform. AnAPI provided to the third party web site by the on-line trading platformthat permits a user to purchase, via the on-line trading platform, anitem presented on a third party web site, may be termed a contextualtransaction module. A contextual transaction module may be generated atthe on-line trading platform and made available for use by third partyweb sites.

A contextual transaction module may be configured to associate apresentation of an item on a context setter web site that hosts thecontextual transaction module with information linking the presentationof the item to a listing that is maintained by the on-line tradingplatform. The operation of associating may take place, e.g., at the timean image of an item is uploaded to context setter web site. A contextsetter web site may be designed to allow users to save images andcategorize them on different web pages that may be termed boards. Usersof such web site can choose other users' boards based on theiroverlapping interests and follow those boards for new content. Forexample, such web site may facilitate pinboard-style social photosharing by allowing users to create and manage theme-based imagecollections. These collections of images may be categorized based onevents, interests, hobbies, etc. Users of such web site can browse otherusers' pinboards for inspiration, can re-post (or ‘re-pin’) images fromother users' boards to their own collections or indicate that they likea particular image. A contextual transaction module may be configured toassociate an image posted on such a pinboard with an identificationlinking it to a listing maintained by the on-line trading platform atthe time the image is being uploaded to the pinboard. Other types ofthird party web sites that may utilize a contextual transaction modulemay be other social networking systems that permit users exchangetextual and/or graphical information that may reference items ofmerchandise (e.g., Twitter®, sites providing a forum for discussingtelevision programs, movies, etc.).

In order to facilitate transactions in a particular on-line tradingplatform from a third party web site, the on-line trading platform mayinclude a module or a component termed a contextual transactionfacilitator. A contextual transaction facilitator may be configured tointeract with a contextual transaction module executing at a contextsetter web site.

In some embodiments, a contextual transaction facilitator may beconfigured to embed links to the listing pages of the on-line tradingplatform within images presented on a web page of a context setter website. A contextual transaction facilitator may also provide integrationbetween a mobile app of the on-line trading platform and a mobile app ofthe provider of a context setter web site. A contextual commerce systemmay also be configured to create a listing in the on-line tradingplatform on the fly, as a user uploads an image to a context setter website.

An example method and system to facilitate transactions in a particularon-line trading platform from a third party web site may be implementedin the context of a network environment 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 1, the network environment 100 may include client devices110 and 120, and a server system 140. The client device 110 may be amobile device executing a native app 112 or a mobile web browser 114.The native app 112 may be providing access to services executing on theserver system 140, such as, for example, to services provided by anon-line trading platform 142. The client devices 110 and 120 (e.g., viaa browser application 122) may have access to the server system 140hosting the on-line trading platform 142 via a communications network130. The communications network 130 may be a public network (e.g., theInternet, a mobile communication network, or any other network capableof communicating digital data).

As shown in FIG. 1, the server system 140 is in communication with adatabase 150 that stores item listings 152. An item listing is apublication related to goods and/or services being offered for sale. Theserver system 140 also hosts a contextual transaction facilitator 144.In one example embodiment, the contextual transaction facilitator 144 isconfigured to cooperate with a contextual transaction module 162executing at a context setter web site provided by a third party website provider computer system 160.

In some embodiments, the contextual transaction facilitator 144 includesa billing system integration module to integrate the billing processwith the billing system provided by the on-line trading platform 142.For example, the contextual transaction facilitator 144 may beconfigured to initiate so-called channel-initiated billing, where apartnered entity (a third party web site provider) authorizes theon-line trading platform 142 to initiate the billing process on theirbehalf. In some embodiments, the contextual transaction facilitator 144may be extended by facilitating partnership with other providers ofweb-based services e.g., to permit “rebolstering” to allow spot buying.

In operation, when the contextual transaction module 162 provided with acontext setter web site detects an indication that a user may beinterested in purchasing an item that is referenced or depicted at thecontext setter web site, the contextual transaction module 162 maycommence a process of facilitating a transaction with respect to theitem in the on-line trading platform 142 without requiring the user toleave the context setter web site. An indication that a user may beinterested in purchasing an item may be, e.g., detecting that the userengaged a “like” control associated with an image of the item, detectingthat the user clicked on an image of the item, or hovered over an imageof the item for certain duration of time. Shown in FIG. 2 is a screen200 illustrating a web page from a context setter web site. In theexample provided in FIG. 2, a context setter web site is a virtualpinboard web site. An item of interest is displayed in area 210 and anindication of a click action is depicted by element 220 (the element 220is not displayed and is provided to illustrate a user action).

In response to detecting an indication that a user may be interested inpurchasing an item (that may be termed an item of interest), thecontextual transaction module 162 of FIG. 1 may determine whether thepresentation of the item is associated with an item identification thatlinks the presentation of the item to a listing maintained by theon-line trading platform 142 of FIG. 1. If the presentation of the itemis associated with an item identification that links the presentation ofthe item to a listing maintained by the on-line trading platform 142,the contextual transaction module 162 displays a so-called contextualcommerce visual control selectable to cause a transaction processingflow to be commenced in the on-line trading platform 142. Shown in FIG.3 is a screen 300 illustrating a web page from the virtual pinboard website. Information describing the item of interest is displayed in area310. Also shown in the area 310 is “EBAY” control 320. “EBAY” control320 is a contextual commerce visual control selectable to cause atransaction processing flow to be commenced in the on-line tradingplatform 142. Ebay® is a registered trademark of eBay, Inc. Theinformation regarding the price for the item and the shipping cost maybe obtained by the contextual transaction module 162 from the on-linetrading platform.

When the contextual transaction module 162 of FIG. 1 detects theselection of the “EBAY” control 320, it sends a communication to thecontextual transaction facilitator executing at the on-line tradingplatform 142 of FIG. 1. The communication to the contextual transactionfacilitator executing at the on-line trading platform 142 includes anidentification of the item of interest represented in the area 310 ofFIG. 3 and a request to facilitate a transaction, in the on-line tradingplatform 142, with respect to an item represented by the itemidentification. A user interface configured to facilitate, in theon-line trading platform 142, a transaction with respect to an itempresented at a context setter web site may be referred to as atransaction flow user interface.

The contextual transaction facilitator 144, which is provided with theon-line trading platform 142, upon receiving the request from thecontextual transaction module 162, accesses a listing that correspondsto the identification of the item of interest, and provides, to theserver 160 hosting the context setter web site, a transaction flow userinterface that can be used for commencing a transaction with respect tothe item of interest. Shown in FIG. 4 is a screen 400 illustrating auser interface for commencing a transaction with respect to the item ofinterest. The user interface for commencing a transaction with respectto the item of interest, also termed a transaction flow user interface,is shown in area 410, which is presented within a layout controlled bythe context setter web site (here the virtual pinboard site). The userinterface presented in the area 410 includes information from thelisting (e.g., an image and a description of the item of interest, theprice information, etc.), as well as a visual control for effectuatingpayment (here a button 420 titled “Payment Control”).

In one embodiment, an identification of an item presented at a contextsetter web site may be associated with multiple listings in the on-linetrading platform 142, e.g., listings of the same item provided bydifferent vendors. Where an item presented at a context setter web siteis associated with listings of the same item provided by differentvendors, the contextual transaction facilitator 144 may be configured todetermine whether the item offered by one of the vendors is out of stockand, if so, select the listing by a vendor that has the item of interestin stock and use that listing to be included into the transaction flowuser interface.

FIG. 5 is block diagram of a system 500 (that, in one embodiment,corresponds to the contextual transaction facilitator 144 provided atthe on-line trading platform 142 of FIG. 1), in accordance with oneexample embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the system 500 includes arequest detector 510, a listing detector 520, and a user interfacecommunicator 530. The request detector 510 may be configured to receive,at a trading platform server (e.g., the server system 140 of FIG. 1),from a context setter web site server (e.g., the third party web siteprovider computer system 160 of FIG. 1), an item identification and arequest to facilitate a transaction with respect to an item representedby the item identification. As mentioned above, the item identificationmay be a URL.

The listing detector 520 may be configured to access, in response to therequest, a listing that corresponds to the item identification. Thelisting may be stored in the database 150 of FIG. 1. The listingdetector 520 may also be configured to determine that the itemidentification corresponds to multiple listings associated withrespective distinct vendors. The listing detector 520 may determine thatone of the listings represents an out-of-stock item with respect to itsassociated vendor and select the listing associated with a vendor thathas the item in stock to be included into the transaction flow userinterface.

The user interface communicator 530 may be configured to communicate, tothe context setter web site server, a transaction flow user interface.The transaction flow user interface comprises information from thelisting and also a visual control selectable to initiate a transactionin the on-line trading platform with respect to the item, using atransaction processing module 540. The system 500 also includes atransaction completion detector 550, which may be configured to detectthat the transaction process is completed and communicate thetransaction completion status to the third party web site providercomputer system 160.

Also shown in FIG. 5 is a contextual transaction module provider 560.The contextual transaction module provider 560 may be configured togenerate a contextual transaction module and provide the contextualtransaction module to a context setter web site. A contextualtransaction module generated by the contextual transaction moduleprovider 560 may be configured to detect an indication of a userinterest with respect to the item presented at a context setter website, to determine that a presentation of the item at the context setterweb site is associated with the identification information (theidentification information linking the presentation of the item to alisting in the in an on-line trading platform), to display in responseto the determining a contextual commerce visual control selectable tocause a transaction processing flow to be commenced by the on-linetrading platform, and to communicate to the on-line trading platform theitem identification and a request to facilitate a transaction withrespect to an item represented by the item identification in response todetecting a selection of the contextual commerce visual control. Anexample contextual transaction module is also described further below,with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method 600 performed at an on-line tradingplatform to facilitate transactions in the on-line trading platform froma context setter web site, in accordance with an example embodiment. Themethod 600 may be performed by processing logic that may comprisehardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.),software (such as run on a general purpose computer system or adedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one example embodiment,the processing logic resides at the server system 140 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 6, the method 600 commences at operation 610, when thecontextual transaction module provider 560 of FIG. 5, executing at anon-line trading platform, provides, to a context setter web site, acontextual transaction module. The contextual transaction module isconfigured to permit a transaction with respect to an item presented atthe context setter web site via the on-line trading platform. Atoperation 620, the request detector 510 of FIG. 5 receives, from thecontext setter web site, an item identification and a request for atransaction flow user interface. At operation 630, the listing detector520 of FIG. 5 accesses a listing maintained by the on-line tradingplatform that corresponds to the item identification. At operation 640,the user interface communicator 530 of FIG. 5 communicates, to thecontext setter web site, a user interface for processing a transactionwith respect to the item (a transaction flow user interface). The userinterface is to be included into a layout controlled by the contextsetter web site. An example of a transaction flow user interface isshown in FIG. 4, which was described above. At operation 650, thetransaction processing module 540 of FIG. 5 processes a transaction withrespect to the item, utilizing the user interface at the context setterweb site. At operation 660, the transaction completion detector 550 ofFIG. 5 communicates an indication of a completed transaction withrespect to the item to the context setter web site.

FIG. 7 is block diagram of a system 700 (that, in one embodiment,corresponds to the contextual transaction module 1162 provided at thethird party web site provider computer system 160 of FIG. 1), inaccordance with one example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, the system700 includes a user interest detector 710, a linking informationdetector 720, a contextual transaction visual control presentationmodule 730, a contextual transaction visual control selection detector740, a request module 750, a transaction flow UI presentation module760, and a transaction completion detector 770. Some example operationsperformed by the modules of the system 700 may be described withreference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method 800 performed at a context setter website to facilitate transactions in an on-line trading platform, inaccordance with an example embodiment. The method 800 may be performedby processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., dedicated logic,programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as run on a generalpurpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination ofboth. In one example embodiment, the processing logic resides at thecomputer system 160 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 8. the method 800 commences at operation 810, when theuser interest detector 710 of FIG. 7 detects an indication of a userinterest with respect to a subject item presented at a context setterweb site. At operation 820, a linking information detector 720 of FIG.7, determines that a presentation of the subject item is associated withan item identification that links the presentation of the item to alisting maintained by an on-line trading platform. At operation 830, thecontextual transaction visual control presentation module 730 of FIG. 7displays a contextual transaction visual control selectable to cause atransaction processing flow to be executed by the on-line tradingplatform with respect to the subject item. An example presentation of acontextual transaction visual control is illustrated in FIG. 3, whichwas described above.

At operation 840, a contextual transaction visual control selectiondetector 740 of FIG. 7 detects selection of the contextual commercevisual control and the request module 750 of FIG. 7, in response todetecting selection of the contextual commerce visual control,communicates, to the on-line trading platform, the item identificationand a request to initiate a transaction flow with respect to the item.At operation 850, the transaction flow UI presentation module 760 ofFIG. 7 receives, from the on-line trading platform, a user interface forprocessing a transaction with respect to the item and includes the userinterface into a layout controlled by the context setter web site. Anexample presentation of the transaction flow UI is illustrated in FIG.4, which was described above. At operation 860, the transactioncompletion detector 770 of FIG. 7 receives, from the on-line tradingplatform, an indication of the completion of the transaction withrespect to the item.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example formof a computer system 900 within which a set of instructions, for causingthe machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein, may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machineoperates as a stand-alone device or may be connected (e.g., networked)to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate inthe capacity of a server or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 900 includes a processor 902 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 904 and a static memory 906, which communicate witheach other via a bus 909. The computer system 900 may further include avideo display unit 910 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or acathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 900 also includes analpha-numeric input device 912 (e.g., a keyboard), a user interface (UI)navigation device 914 (e.g., a cursor control device), a disk drive unit916, a signal generation device 918 (e.g., a speaker) and a networkinterface device 920.

The disk drive unit 916 includes a machine-readable medium 922 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g.,software 924) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The software 924 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 904and/or within the processor 902 during execution thereof by the computersystem 900, with the main memory 904 and the processor 902 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

The software 924 may further be transmitted or received over a network926 via the network interface device 920 utilizing any one of a numberof well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol(HTTP)).

While the machine-readable medium 922 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring and encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machineand that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of embodiments of the present invention, or that iscapable of storing and encoding data structures utilized by orassociated with such a set of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media. Such media may alsoinclude, without limitation, hard disks, floppy disks, flash memorycards, digital video disks, random access memory (RAMs), read onlymemory (ROMs), and the like. A carrier medium comprises a tangiblemachine readable medium or a transient medium carrying instructions forcausing a machine to implement the method, such as a signal e.g. atransmission medium, an electrical signal, an optical signal, or anelectromagnetic signal.

The embodiments described herein may be implemented in an operatingenvironment comprising software installed on a computer, in hardware, orin a combination of software and hardware. Such embodiments of theinventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually orcollectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and withoutintending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to anysingle invention or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,disclosed.

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute eithersoftware modules (e.g., code embodied (1) on a non-transitorymachine-readable medium or (2) in a transmission signal) orhardware-implemented modules. A hardware-implemented module is tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or morecomputer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system)or one or more processors may be configured by software (e.g., anapplication or application portion) as a hardware-implemented modulethat operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware-implemented module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware-implementedmodule may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanentlyconfigured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware-implementedmodule may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., asencompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmableprocessor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certainoperations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement ahardware-implemented module mechanically, in dedicated and permanentlyconfigured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g.,configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware-implemented module” should be understoodto encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily ortransitorily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certainmanner and/or to perform certain operations described herein.Considering embodiments in which hardware-implemented modules aretemporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware-implemented modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware-implementedmodules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software,the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware-implemented modules at different times. Software mayaccordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware-implemented module at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware-implemented module at a differentinstance of time.

Hardware-implemented modules can provide information to, and receiveinformation from, other hardware-implemented modules. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware-implemented modules may be regarded as beingcommunicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware-implementedmodules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved throughsignal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) thatconnect the hardware-implemented modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware-implementedmodules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrievalof information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware-implemented modules have access. For example, onehardware-implemented module may perform an operation, and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware-implemented module may then,at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process thestored output. Hardware-implemented modules may also initiatecommunications with input or output devices, and can operate on aresource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or processors or processor-implementedmodules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributedamong the one or more processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a singlelocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as aserver farm), while in other embodiments the processors may bedistributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs)).

Thus, method and system to facilitate transactions in a particularon-line trading platform from a third party web site have beendescribed. Although embodiments have been described with reference tospecific example embodiments, it will be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made to these embodiments withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the inventive subject matter.Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A system comprising: a request detector, implemented using at leastone processor, to receive, at a trading platform server, from a contextsetter web site server, an item identification and a request tofacilitate a transaction with respect to an item represented by the itemidentification, the trading platform server hosting an on-line tradingplatform, the context setter web site server hosting a context setterweb site; a listing detector, implemented using at least one processor,to access, in response to the request, a listing that corresponds to theitem identification; a user interface communicator, implemented using atleast one processor, to communicate, to the context setter web siteserver, a transaction flow user interface, the transaction flow userinterface comprising information from the listing and a visual controlselectable to initiate a transaction in the on-line trading platformwith respect to the item.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the itemidentification is a uniform resource locator (URL).
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the listing detector is to: determine that the itemidentification corresponds to the listing and to a further listing, thelisting and the further listing associated with respective distinctvendors; determine that the further listing represents an out-of-stockitem with respect to its associated vendor; and select the listing to beincluded into the transaction flow user interface.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, comprising a contextual transaction module provider,implemented using at least one processor, to: generate a contextualtransaction module; and provide the contextual transaction module,implemented using at least one processor, to the context setter website.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the contextual transactionmodule is to detect an indication of a user interest with respect to theitem presented at the context setter web site.
 6. The system of claim 5,wherein the contextual transaction module is to: determine that apresentation of the item at the context setter web site is associatedwith the identification information, the identification informationlinking the presentation of the item to a listing in the in the on-linetrading platform; and in response to the determining, display acontextual commerce visual control selectable to cause a transactionprocessing flow to be commenced by the on-line trading platform.
 7. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the contextual transaction module is to: inresponse to detecting a selection of the contextual commerce visualcontrol, communicate, to the on-line trading platform, the itemidentification and a request to facilitate a transaction with respect toan item represented by the item identification.
 8. The system of claim1, wherein the context setter web site is a social networking web site.9. The system of claim 1, wherein the item is an electronic resource ora tangible good.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the itemidentification corresponds to an image, an alpha-numeric string, or anaudio clip.
 11. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, ata trading platform server, from a context setter web site server, anitem identification and a request to facilitate a transaction withrespect to an item represented by the item identification, the tradingplatform server hosting an on-line trading platform, the context setterweb site server hosting a context setter web site; in response to therequest, accessing a listing that corresponds to the itemidentification; communicating, to the context setter web site server,using at least one processor, the transaction flow user interface, atransaction flow user interface comprising information from the listingand a visual control selectable to initiate a transaction in the on-linetrading platform with respect to the item.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the item identification is a uniform resource locator (URL). 13.The method of claim 11, wherein the accessing of the listing comprises:determining that the item identification corresponds to the listing andto a further listing, the listing and the further listing associatedwith respective distinct vendors; determining that the further listingrepresents an out-of-stock item with respect to its associated vendor;and selecting the listing to be included into the transaction flow userinterface.
 14. The method of claim 11, comprising: generating acontextual transaction module; and providing the contextual transactionmodule to the context setter web site.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the contextual transaction module is to detect an indication ofa user interest with respect to the item presented at the context setterweb site.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the contextual transactionmodule is to: determine that a presentation of the item at the contextsetter web site is associated with the identification information, theidentification information linking the presentation of the item to alisting in the in the on-line trading platform; and in response to thedetermining, display a contextual commerce visual control selectable tocause a transaction processing flow to be commenced by the on-linetrading platform.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the contextualtransaction module is to: in response to detecting a selection of thecontextual commerce visual control, communicate, to the on-line tradingplatform, the item identification and a request to facilitate atransaction with respect to an item represented by the itemidentification.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the context setterweb site is a social networking web site.
 19. The method of claim 11,wherein the item is an electronic resource or a tangible good.
 20. Amachine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instruction dataexecutable by a machine to cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: receiving, at a trading platform server, from a contextsetter web site server, an item identification and a request tofacilitate a transaction with respect to an item represented by the itemidentification, the trading platform server hosting an on-line tradingplatform, the context setter web site server hosting a context setterweb site; in response to the request, accessing a listing thatcorresponds to the item identification; communicating, to the contextsetter web site server the transaction flow user interface, atransaction flow user interface comprising information from the listingand a visual control selectable to initiate a transaction in the on-linetrading platform with respect to the item.